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Business Analysts Handbook:About
This initiative was started by two Australian Business Analysts to develop a body of knowledge created by the actual people who perform the role. We want a place where you can find comprehensive information about what is involved in the world of a Business Analyst and not a place for puffed up jargon to make us feel important. It is hoped that this portal can become the definitive body of knowledge to support both new Business Analysts and the old dogs and to enable the simplification and standardization of business analysis knowledge and solution delivery techniques. This is not just about information. It is also about building a community and the ability to support our fellow professionals to improve their skills without having to pay money to the info-sharks who are circling in our waters. We ask all like-minded individuals to contribute to this Wiki so that we can all reap the benefits of our collective knowledge and support each other to realise success. Why did we start this project? As an experienced business analyst I am often asked by management teams whether I can source or provide training to business analysts. I have found that other BA’s have received similar requests. I have looked around and there are training courses and standards out there, but they seem to have a strong engineering or IT focus. I see the BA role as broader than someone who analyses system configurations and defined product specifications. The BA is, in my opinion, an emerging profession, possibly a converging one also. There are many flavours of business analyst including; Process Analysts, Engineers, Systems Analysts, Technical Business Analysts, IT Business Analysts, Business-side Business Analysts and others. In many cases people are defining their roles in isolation. For others there are a large number of peers available to coach, support and otherwise train up BAs. This website is an opportunity to share knowledge across workplaces, industries and nations to discuss issues, processes, techniques and the like and to improve the quality of work that business analysts deliver to their clients. This is also an opportunity to make life easier for many business analysts who have trouble defining boundaries and fulfilling their clients’ needs. This site can provide a reference point for how to deal with tricky situations, and as an example of how other people do the same job. It can be used as a tool to manage expectations. So – why a wiki? As mentioned in the introduction, we believe that an emerging profession's knowledge base should be a dynamic document and one that many people can contribute to as well as draw on. Our job is to kick this project off. You can help by joining our band of motivated business analysts on developing a structure and trying to capture what is important to business analysts today. Please read and assess our content and use it as you need to. As you draw on this site think about what you can give back. We always need content reviewed and refreshed and new information is always welcome, especially in it's infancy. This wiki format makes things easy for you to contribute and this project won’t be successful unless many business analysts do just that. So read and use our content, but also - please contribute.